The six-man squad - from Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo where it hasn't snowed for 31 years - are determined to seriously challenge at the next Winter Olympics in a story which mirrors that of the Jamaica team profiled in the Disney film Cool Runnings.

The team is made up of former sprinters and the athletes are currently midway through a two-month training programme in Yorkshire for Pyeongchang 2018, with regular sessions at Camp Hill, near Bedal.

They have been brought to a summer training track by Jo Manning, the former Great Britain Bobsleigh Association boss, who is coaching the team until the Olympics according to The Northern Echo.

Manning said the Brazilians had made huge progress pushing a 250kg sled on rails at the gently sloping track and were aiming for a top ten place at the Games in South Korea.

She said the training experience has had a dramatic effect on the Brazilians, leading to several members of the team, including one who left school aged 11, to decide to return to education.

Ms Manning, who last night took the team to a local pub to introduce them to British culture, told The Northern Echo: "It is a whole education for them, teaching them to eat and hydrate properly, that British athletes would grow up knowing.

"I love working with them because it is an opportunity to help improve their lives."

Bobsleigh pilot Edson Bindilatti added: "My friends and family thought it was so funny that we were coming here when the world's athletes were going to Brazil.

"As well as training, this is helping us with our lives, we are all learning English and about different culture.

"It's all very different for us. 

"We went to Whitby and had fish and chips, which we loved."

Brazil's four-man team came 29th at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.